Day: December 22, 2008

6So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

“When the woman saw that the tree was good for food” – Did she previously think that the reason God said don’t eat of it was because it was not fit to eat? How often do we demand from God that we understand His prohibitions on us before we will abide by them. Eve will agree not to eat the fruit as long as she understands the reason she shouldn’t? But when the reason she thought it was prohibited proves not to be the case, she is willing to disobey. We do not obey God because the commandments make sense to us. We obey because we trust Him and know that whatever He tells us is for our good.

“And that it was a delight to the eyes” There we go. How can it be bad when it looks so good? How often do people disobey because of the convoluted logic that “it can’t be wrong if it feels so good”. This is the reasoning so often, for divorce, adultery, theft, unbiblical church practices. It is why we are not in our Bible more than we are. We don’t need to be there – we know what is right. Our spirit, so it is thought, confirms it to us. But our spirits lie to us because we have evil hearts. Back to the Scriptures. It is the only sure word.

“And the tree was to be desired to make one wise…”. Never mind the Word of God. Never mind that God said “no”. Despite the fact that it disagrees with the Word of God it will do me good. This is the human condition – every one doing what is right in their own eyes. We think we are the exception to the rule. “I know the God says not to do this but …” and we concoct reasons why in this case it is right. “It will make me wise. I had no choice. If I did what the Bible said I would have gotten into worse trouble …” This is pride gone amok. “I know better than God…”.

Living by faith to please God means trusting Him even when we do not know all the reasons behind commandments, saying no to ourselves even when something wrong pleases us and even when we are sure that something God says “no” to seems better for us.

Today, keep your spiritual eyes on Him and know the great peace that walking with God with a clear conscience brings.